by Devin Creed 안녕하세요! This standard Korean greeting (pronounced “annyeonghaseyo”) literally translates as “I hope you are well/peaceful.” Though unassuming, this simple word reveals much about Korean society. “세”is an honorific marker which is used to show respect to the person being addressed. “요”is the polite ending for verbs. Whenever Koreans encounter an elder or a stranger, the honorific polite form of the greeting is … Continue reading Korea: Life as the Other
by Micah Meadowcroft Yi Seung-hun was baptized in 1784. Peter Lee, as he became called, returned to Korea from a diplomatic mission to Beijing accompanying his father, the country’s first convert, bearing books and items of devotion. A Silhak Confucian teacher had asked him to learn more about the faith they read of in the writings of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China. The … Continue reading War, Mission, & Memory: Dr. Somerville’s Childhood in South Korea
DISC 1 by Forester McClatchey The album begins with a swirl of static, disorienting. Screwed-down vocals say, “This is a test.” A test of sound, yes, but also a test for hip-hop, a test for newcomers (like Killer Mike), and fundamentally a test for ‘Kast: a split album, combining twice the creative energy with twice the risk of failure. After Stankonia dropped in 2000, it … Continue reading Music Review: Speakerboxxx | The Love Below
by Emily Lehman I watched the new Cinderella movie tentatively, waiting for vulgar humor, a sudden flamboyant display of CGI, or a swipe at traditional gender roles. Accustomed to the endless litany of remakes, sequels, and parodies, I expected that this movie would attempt to wink knowingly at the audience in one way or another, and waited for the jarring, if expected, blow. To my … Continue reading Movie Review: Cinderella
by Chris McCaffery If I had no choice about the age in which I was to live, I nevertheless have a choice about the attitude I take and about the way and the extent of my participation in its living ongoing events. To choose the world is not then merely a pious admission that the world is acceptable because it comes from the hand of … Continue reading “Wherefore poets in a destitute time?”: Part Two of Three
by Mark Naida There is a hole cut out of the ceiling on the second floor of a normal-looking house off of Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. This hole opens up a converted second floor bedroom into a cavernous attic. The echoes of the greats have swirled and beat their way into the thinly insulated attic walls. If you stand under this hole quietly, you … Continue reading Soul Music & Live Recording
by Sarah Reinsel Twentieth century writer and critic Susan Sontag addresses the omnipresence of visual material and photography in “In Plato’s Cave”, sharply warning against the knowledge gained through photographs. She says, The knowledge gained through still photographs will always be some kind of sentimentalism, whether cynical or humanist. It will be a knowledge at bargain prices—a semblance of knowledge, a semblance of wisdom . … Continue reading Retraining the Eye
Encountering human beings in their native tongues By Amelia Stieren Spending eight weeks in Germany this summer brought to surface some of the most lonely and painful moments of my life. Being far away from nearly everyone I love and who love me, living with a family whom I had not previously known, and speaking a language I had spent just two years learning was … Continue reading Windows of Foreign Language
By Lara Forsythe “What is the use of a book without pictures?” Alice asks before tumbling into Wonderland with a pocketwatch-carrying rabbit so familiar to generations of readers. As Hillsdale approaches term paper season and we begin seeing more students toting around stacks of literary criticism (among biochemistry textbooks and backbreaking volumes of the Summa), many of us may find ourselves sympathizing with Alice’s lament. … Continue reading Why We Stopped Reading Picture Books
by Timothy Troutner When Stanley Kubrick released his classic film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union troubled the world. The Cold War and the possibility of nuclear apocalypse dwelt constantly in public consciousness. America had spent nearly the past two decades building up its weapons, shoring up … Continue reading Movie Review: Dr. Strangelove
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